All right, so Apatow didn't technically write that famous line from "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy." (That honor goes to Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.) But he did produce the movie that put San Diego on the pop-culture map forever.

So it’s fitting that Apatow will be honored next week for his contribution to comedy and cinema at the San Diego Film Festival. The festival, which starts Wednesday and continues through Oct. 6, will highlight features, documentaries, short movies, foreign films and indie comedies.

San Diego Film Festival

Apatow tribute: Judd Apatow will receive the Visionary Filmmaker Award during a gala at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, 700 Prospect St., La Jolla.

And while celebrating Apatow is the classy thing to do, it’s also quite deserved.

The New York-raised filmmaker is the mastermind (or the one to blame) behind modern bromance comedy — humor that embraces male friendships. His characters, played by such actors as Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd, struggle with arrested development and marijuana habits. But as in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Funny People,” they also have an underlying sweetness.

“It feels like I’ve covered a lot of ground,” Apatow said in a telephone interview from his Los Angeles production office. “The films are reflections of different periods of life. There’s high school and college, then getting married and having babies, and now, about midlife and getting sick. Soon there’ll be nothing left to talk about.”

Perhaps this self-awareness is why Apatow is such a prolific, high-profile producer, too.

His brand of heartwarming humor, one that roots for the underdog, is behind projects people return to over and over again: “Superbad,” “Bridesmaids,” “Freaks and Geeks” and the aforementioned “Anchorman,” which will have a sequel (“Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”) released in December.

Still, these aren’t typically the kinds of movies film festivals or award shows honor. Just last year the San Diego Film Festival celebrated the very serious Gus Van Sant.

But Apatow insists comedy is harder to pull off than drama.

“Every once in a while, people will recognize comedy, but not that much,” he explained. “People seem to think it’s much more difficult to make a drama than a comedy. Let me tell you, my movies would be really easy to make if I didn’t have to make people laugh.”

To keep his projects fresh and funny, Apatow’s been working and nurturing young comedians like Amy Schumer, Aziz Ansari and, most notably, Lena Dunham of “Girls.”

That partnership with Dunham — as well as the success of “Bridesmaids” — has helped Apatow shed a reputation that he doesn’t create likable female characters.

But he said working with Dunham or other female comics isn’t something that’s calculated.